Clinical vision research is needed to enhance our understanding, management, and prevention of visual system disorders. By applying epidemiological methods to clinical vision research, programs have enhanced capability to achieve those goals. The purpose of this application is to present the commitment of The Eye and Ear Institute to vision research and to document our potential for successful clinical research. To that aim, we describe in some detail several examples of on-going clinical vision research programs at The Eye and Ear Institute to demonstrate our interests and current levels of expertise. We also identify some of the scientific and organizational needs of projects such as these. We describe key personnel involved in the research, defining their research interests, experience, and administrative skills. We identify the "critical mass" of investigators and demonstrate that our facilities and Institutional commitment are more than adequate in terms of the guidelines of the NEI Clinical Research Development program. Finally, we introduce some of the future directions proposed by members of our applicant group. In this application we seek to improve our capability to do clinical vision research by creation of a stronger clinical vision research facility and environment. This will be accomplished by the addition to our staff of an epidemiologist, projects coordinator and data entry clerk. Our long range objective is to establish The Eye and Ear Institute as a national leader in clinical vision research performing single- and multi-center clinical trials and other epidemiological studies.